The Original Rin

The church had surely seen better days.

Days without the heaps of rubble lying everywhere.

Days when it wasn't falling over itself completely.

And days that didn't include a large pool of blood as well as a young man lying at the center of it.

Both his suit and face were drenched and stained to the point of changing their entire color. His breath was haggard and his vision blurry as he faced his imminent death.

In his final moments, he caught a glimpse of the blood emanating from the back of his head. In it, his reflection stared back at him. 

For some reason, he looked calm, almost robotically so. It was as if he didn't even know what was happening to him. 

The young man had seen enough. He turned his head to get a good look at the sky and as he did, he couldn't help but feel as though it were getting farther and farther away from him. He continued to think this as he sunk deeper and deeper into the pool of blood beneath him.

***

Rin fell into a white void face first. 

"Welcome to my world."

Rin shot up and turned in response to the sound of his own voice. He came face to face with someone who looked identical to him. 

"You can call me One.", he said.

The stasis bomb was in his hand, about to detonate. One swiped his finger through the air, opening a small portal where he did, and tossed the bomb through it nonchalantly. He then snapped his fingers. 

A small table appeared between him and his other self.

"Let me tell you a story."

***

One fell back first into a white void, colliding with what he could only assume was the ground. The impact sent him into a coughing fit. Once finished, he turned onto his side to take in the never-ending white surrounding him. 

Pain shot through his body whenever he moved. He felt nothing beneath his feet as he walked, and since everywhere looked the same, it was hard to tell if he was even moving at all.  

"I'll be dead soon enough anyway.", he said.

Falling onto his back, he noticed the pain in his body fade. When he lifted his arm, he did so without suffering. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the bruises on his skin beginning to disappear too. The bloodstains on his suit remained, but their sources were completely healed. 

It was somewhat relieving, but it meant he couldn't wait for the problem to resolve itself anymore. One got up. 

He walked and walked, looking for something, anything, but it never came. There was no end in sight. No signs of progress. Not even a clear indicator of time passing. Despite that though, One knew he'd been at it for a long time, far too long. 

He had no choice but to keep walking. 

***

"What would you do in that situation?"

One suddenly paused his tale to ask Rin this question.

"I don't care about your story. I want to know what happened out there."

Tapping the table, One revealed a mirror for the two of them to peer into. On the other side was a barren wasteland, completely free of both people and civilization. It was clear there were no survivors. 

One wiped the image away, already bored of what he saw.

"You were tricking me... this entire time.", Rin said.

One looked back at him with detached eyes.

"Why? Why did you do it? How does this help you in any way?"

Instead of answering his question, One continued his story. 

"If you asked me what I was looking for, I wouldn't have an answer for you. I've completely forgotten by now. Maybe I thought there was a way out or maybe I was looking for any sign of life at all. Either way, I ended up with both."

***

One sat down again, tired from his constant walking. To his surprise though, he actually felt something underneath him. It was a mirror. He turned onto his knees, leaning over it. Inside was the last thing he ever expected to see, his own room. 

He reached out to it instinctively and his arm sunk through to the other side with ease. As soon as he saw that, he tried climbing through completely, but some kind of force prevented him from fully doing so. 

Quickly, he pulled his arm back and made another attempt with his other arm only for it to end the same. Angrily, he struck the glass with all of his strength, but instead of phasing through this time, it bounced off the glass's surface, completely failing to leave a mark. 

"Why can't I-"

*Buzz Buzz*
The sound of the alarm made him flinch. He looked into the mirror again and noticed movement from under the sheets of the bed. And to his surprise, he saw another version of himself slowly climb out from under them. 

His doppelganger lurched his way over to the dresser to start his day. One didn't know what to do, so he simply waited, watching intently until the subject of his attention finally looked up and locked eyes with him. 

"...Can you see me?", One asked.

Instead of responding, his copy stood there for a few seconds before promptly falling backwards and onto the floor.

***

One waited for his past self to recover, then asked him a couple of questions.

"Today's the... funeral? Listen, I know you won't believe this, but I'm from the future."

"...What?"

"I'm you from the fu- Just listen. Today at the funeral, you'll end up inside this mirror."

"How?"

"I don't know, I- It was a giant truck. We got hit by it and..."

It was difficult for him to finish his sentence. He had trouble even recalling the incident for some reason. But it didn't matter to him at the end of the day.

***

"With my knowledge of the future, I was able to change it. Preventing my death wasn't enough though. I was still stuck in here. So, I wracked my brain to figure out why."

The space around Rin and One began to contort. Images of Rin's past life replaced the empty backgrounds.

"Questions like, what was that pocket watch or why was that truck after it raced through my mind. I figured it must've been related to my situation, so I looked into it."

***

One watched his past self from a hospital window. He held the stasis bomb up to his face.

"What is this exactly?", One asked. 

"The trucker said he made it."

A moment of silence followed.

"Here let me see it."

One stuck his arm out with an open hand and waited for his past self to comply. Maybe the solution was removing the stasis bomb from the world. 

One closed his eyes, expecting something to change. 

He waited a second, then thirty, and then a minute.

"Nothing.", he said. 

Although disappointed, he still took the time to examine the bomb. Opening it revealed the three key holes. He ran his fingers over them. He would have spent much longer wondering what they were if not for what happened next.

*BAM*
The door to the hospital room slammed open and there she stood, embarrassed and looking sheepishly at the door. 

One's eyes widened as Lena entered the room.